LEAK: Trump Told Russians Comey is a ‘Nut Job,’ Bragged about Firing Him

A memo summarizing Donald Trump’s May 10th Oval Office meetingwith Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak was leaked by an administration official to the New York Times, the Times reported Friday. The leak threatened to dig Trump’s credibility hole even deeper, as the transcript revealed an extreme conflict of interest in how Trump discussed his firing of FBI Director James Comey with the Russian envoy.

According to the Times,

President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved “great pressure” on him, according to a document summarizing the meeting.

“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

Mr. Trump added, “I’m not under investigation.”

The insanity of this statement is staggering. In a meeting that the White House tried to keep private, the president told the Russian envoy that the former head of federal investigation in the US was a “nut job.” This is failing job number one of the president: to represent the US well to other countries. Trump also comes off as delusional, thinking that firing Comey relieved “pressure,” and that firing him killed the investigation. Surely, no one in that meeting could have believed that. The firing reeks of a cover-up. If Trump can’t see that, he’s in great denial about the situation. In light of the fact that the investigation hinges on his relationship with Russia, he should not be having closed-door chummy meetings with Russian officials in which he slanders American officials.

This is perhaps the fourth or fifth revelation in less than a week that would threaten to completely derail most previous presidencies. The new Special Counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller will likely take an interest in this information. But Republicans in Congress are likely to do little more than groan about it. The party as a whole has apparently abdicated their oversight role for the least qualified president in American history so that they can ram through a deeply unpopular agenda of transferring wealth from the bottom to the top of society. As long as that dynamic continues, there will be no low to which Trump can’t stoop and get away with it.

Marc Belisle is the Reverb Press World Affairs Editor. He is a writer, activist and teacher. He has a Master’s degree in International Conflict Analysis from the Brussels School of International Studies. READ MORE BY MARC.